A sleep mode for an electronic device allows the device to conserve power, and therefore battery life, without powering off. Contrasted against a normal operating mode for the device, the sleep mode consumes less power but also limits both the operations the device can perform and the user interactions that the device will recognize. The sleep mode and the normal operating mode represent opposite sides of a balance between efficiency and functionality.
Notifications provide information to a communication device user that a message has arrived or that some event has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur. For example, notifications may be displayed on a communication device to indicate calendar events, various alarms, waiting messages, etc. Such notifications may be displayed to the user in various ways. For example, some notifications may be displayed as an icon positioned on some section of the communication device display or by displaying a pop-up message that covers a portion of the display screen and that must be closed by the user by taking some specific action. Notification messages may be generated by various applications resident on a communication device, or may be sent by a network or from the communication device operating system.